Pirns
I have come to love weaving with end feed shuttles. I can't believe I ever doubted them. Instead of the plastic bobbin that holds the weft yarn in a boat shuttle, the end feed shuttle uses a pirn. Pirns are most commonly made of wood and are filled in a different manner than the plastic bobbins. It's a skill that I'm trying to learn more fully.
There are lots of spinning and weaving tools that you just can't have too many of - orifice hooks and weaving pattern books, yarn and fiber, niddy noddies of each and every size and pirns. I recently ordered more of both the 6" length and the 8" length and received a surprise when I opened the box.
These are what I expected to find in the order. They are made of wood and taper from 3/4" in diameter down to 3/8" at the tip. In addition to several sets of the pirns above, I also received one set of these....
These two pirns have a notch at the top and a hole into but not all the way through the upper end. I called Schacht to find out why they had sent me these different pirns. Turns out these are the industrial version of the pirn I use in my end feed shuttles. The notch is for easy loading of the yarn and the hole is there for a machine to tell when the pirn is nearly empty. They assured me that the differences don't impact the useability of the pirn. I had already figured that out for myself. I was fascinated that Schacht even makes pirns for industrial uses.